Complementing counseling models, mainstream psychology can help provide answers to questions such as:

• How much can clients remember of their pasts?
  
• What factors condition clients' expectations of counseling interaction?
  
• What rules do people apply to interpreting the behaviour of others?
  
• What sort of errors are people likely to make in reasoning about problems?

Mainstream psychology offers a conceptual framework that at its best offers accounts of how people are likely to think, fee, and act in particular situations and that will allow us to anticipate the impact of different forms of counseling practice.

Written in a refreshing style, each chapter begins wit a case vignette reflecting the ideas that will be discussed in the chapter, and proving concrete illustrations of the abstract ideas. After each main discussion point the author asks the practical question 'How can I use this information as a counselor?' He also provides a summary of ideas which can be applied to counseling practice in bullet point style each main chapter section, as well as summarizing the main conclusions of each chapter.